The CQC compliance checklist for dental practices: decontamination, radiography and medical emergencies

Dental inspections concentrate on three areas harder than anything else: decontamination, radiography, and medical emergency readiness. Get those three genuinely right, with current, checkable evidence, and most of the rest of a dental practice’s compliance picture falls into place around them.

Decontamination (HTM 01-05)

This means a separate decontamination area, and validated equipment: autoclave, ultrasonic bath and washer-disinfector, each with its own daily and weekly test regime rather than a one-off validation certificate treated as permanent. A decontamination or infection prevention and control audit needs to happen at least every six months, not annually, and dental unit waterlines need daily flushing with periodic testing under HSG274 and HTM 01-05.

Radiography (IRR17 and IR(ME)R 2017)

Radiography compliance runs on its own regulatory track. It starts with HSE registration under the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017, a one-off registration per employer that covers all of that employer’s practices. On top of that sits a radiation protection file with local rules for each surgery unit, a named Radiation Protection Adviser (an accredited external role) and an in-house Radiation Protection Supervisor appointed in writing. An X-ray equipment inventory needs annual testing, and every exposure needs justification and grading recorded under IR(ME)R 2017. A radiograph quality audit sits alongside this under Effective.

Medical emergencies

Emergency drugs, resuscitation equipment and an AED need to be maintained to Resuscitation Council UK quality standards, which in practice means weekly checks with stock and expiry tracked, not an annual glance in a cupboard. This is one of the areas CQC checks most directly, because the gap between “present” and “actually ready” is exactly what a weekly check catches and an annual one misses.

The rest of the picture

Beyond the big three: a COSHH risk assessment covering cleaning products, dental materials, local anaesthetic and gases, and latex, with control measures and staff training recorded (mandatory in writing for practices with five or more staff); sharps safety under the Health and Safety (Sharps) Regulations 2013; hazardous waste handling covering amalgam, mercury and clinical waste with a valid waste-carrier licence; and GDC registration, indemnity and enhanced CPD kept current for every clinician.

Where this actually gets checked

An inspector working through a dental practice isn’t looking for a folder that contains all of this somewhere. They’re looking for whether the decon area’s daily test log is actually up to date today, whether the RPS appointment letter is signed, and whether the emergency drug box was actually checked this week. Evidence that’s current and specific beats a comprehensive folder that’s six months stale.